By Ken Stone
Times of San Diego
SAN DIEGO — Rep. Sara Jacobs says she feared for her life Wednesday as she and other members of Congress seated in the House gallery were led to safety amid the sound of flash-bangs.
Asked how long she hunkered down with their gas masks, she said in a phone call from Washington, : “It could have been 10 minutes or it could have been two hours.”
But she was in good hands amid the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol.
She was sitting next to former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings of Florida and former Army Ranger (and Iraq-Afghanistan veteran) Jason Crow of Colorado, fellow House Democrats.
The most frightening moments came when U.S. Capitol Police evacuated them — under railings and over seats — to the opposite side of the visitors gallery and eventually a secure location.
“We couldn’t really see what was going on,” the 53rd District rep said. “We heard some of the flash-bangs. We could actually hear the protesters banging on the doors right behind us.”
She saw invaders subdued on the ground.
At one point Capitol Police told House members to remove their congressional pins over fears the pins would make them a target.
After about five hours, she and others were released back to their offices and reconvened the session certifying the Electoral College votes.
The 31-year-old Jacobs, sworn in Sunday, had her phone with her and used it to contact Amy Kuhn, her chief of staff, and Brendon Mendoza, her legislative director — both locked down in her Longworth House Building office across the street.
“And I tried to text my parents (Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs), so they wouldn’t worry too much,” she said. “It was definitely a chaotic experience.”
She again urged removal of President Trump.
“The 25th Amendment is definitely a faster option, and I hope that as soon as tonight or early tomorrow members of the Cabinet and Vice President Pence will use that option,” she said.
But if they don’t, she said: “I think we have to really seriously consider impeaching the president.”
She thinks it’s clear that Trump’s rhetoric earlier Wednesday in remarks to protesters incited violence and “was clearly treasonous and trying to overthrow a democratically elected government because they didn’t like the results of the election.”
She also called for investigations into the Capitol invasion and “the difference in how security was approached today vs. over the summer when there were peaceful protesters who were nonwhite.”
She plans to attend the Biden-Harris inauguration Jan. 20.
Any concerns about security?
“I don’t think that we should allow a hate-filled mob to control our democracy,” she replied just after voting against the objection to Arizona’s electors. “We will certify the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and we will inaugurate him …. and we will not let any mob change that.”
She found it ironic that her safety might be at risk in one of the most protected places in the world.
“My poor parents thought that when I stopped working in foreign policy and was no longer in places like Mauritania all the time that they could sleep a little easier and the House floor would be somewhere I’d be safe,” she said.
“I think today was very scary for them.”
*
Ken Stone is a contributing editor of Times of San Diego, a daily newsite accessible at www.timesofsandiego.com. His stories are republished with permission on San Diego Jewish World under auspices of the San Diego Online News Association.